By:
Submission
Van Damme State Park offers a scenic beach, a lush fern-filled forest, and year-round camping. The highway runs through the park, separating the campground and the Fern Canyon trail head to the east from the beach and parking lot to the west. Visitors can launch a kayak in a protected cove. They can explore a pygmy forest. They can hike, jog, or bicycle the splendid Fern Canyon Scenic Trail beside Little River.
The park is located three miles south of the town of Mendocino on Highway 1. The highway runs through the park separating the campground and the Fern Canyon trail head to the east and the beach and parking lot to the west.
Another Nat Geo campground !
Abundant wildlife and raw beauty !
Also moments of pure silence.
A must see.....just don't tell everyone.
The beach is a small one with pebbles, but it's lovely. Worth a stop, for sure! The park has its main trail closed due to storm damage, but the some of campground is still open.
Campground is located in a good place if you want to be away from large groups. Lots of places to choose from with good access to the beach and ocean. Ocean side parking is available for camping too, but you have to pay at the Van Damme booth. Oceanside has 2 fire-pits, picnic benches, and bathrooms (no showers). There are however showers inside the campground that were $1/5 minutes at the time of this review. If you need some town access you can pop into Mendocino or Fort Bragg. Mendo is a neat little town with many tourists and shops. Fort Bragg is a little bigger with many good breweries. There is also a great bike/walking path along the ocean all the way to McKerricher. Look at TrailForks if you want some real dirt because there are plenty of local trails to hit.
